Exposing the "CREDO" Delusions

Orrin Loves the NY Post

2011-02-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Oh the irony!

The same well-respected publication that outed our Dear Orrin so unceremoniously in May of 2009 as the Prospect Park Pepper Spray Vigilante, is now apparently a source for more of Orrin's Fuzzy Math and blatant falsehoods.

You see, The New York Post, that bastion of fine News Corp journalism, published this story incorrectly stating that 2010 dog bite numbers were a record. None of the sort! Not even close. A prime example of never to believe everything you read (especially if it comes from a Murdoch publication).

In fact, even one of Dear Orrin's cohorts, the failed anti-offleash Jihadist, Robb Jett (the self-proclaimed "Prospect Park Advocate") posted on his now discontinued anti-offleash blog that in 1998, Health Dept reported NYC dog bites were 6,568. The NYC Health Department published that the dog bite stats from 2005 were 3,956.

For anyone who has the fundamental basics of simple 2nd grade math mastered, 2010's NYC Health Department bite stats reported by the Post at 3,609, are hundreds of bites less than the 2005 stats and thousands of bites less than the 1998 stats.

So where do Orrin and the Post get off claiming NYC dog bites are at "record number?"
It's a complete untruth.

Dear Orrin again destroys any shred of credibility he might hope to portray. Of course, Datniodes (AKA, Kim E., Pit Bull Owner from her failed jihad during 2006-2007), and who lately is counting the number of White people in "her" neighborhood as Dear Orrin counts the number of "Mexicans" and "Blacks" in Prospect Park) has commented in full force as Orrin's amen peanut gallery. She bathes in Orrin's dirty bathwater.

NY Magazine Votes Offleash a Top Reason to Love NYC

2010-12-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

We hope Orrin won't have to cancel his subscription to New York Magazine when he has a conniption over this one.

Orrin's Fuzzy Math

2010-12-11T20:46:00.001-08:00

Dear Orrin must have been absent the day they taught statistics in school. He consistently glimpses dog-related public health articles online and wrongly extrapolates information to "support" his maniacal hatred for 25-year NYC Parks successful off-leash hours policy.

Frequent readers will recall that Orrin tried to either pull some fuzzy math or his reading comprehension is slipping when last year he mischaracterized dog bite statistics.

Almost a year later Orrin's back with a NYT article that shows nationwide that hospital admission for dog bites has gone up over the past two decades. Of course, Orrin believes that this proves the insanity of the NYC Parks Off-leash Hours policy.

Dear Orrin must not have read in the article that dog bites in rural areas had 4 times as many emergency room visits as urban areas. And dog bites in rural areas had 3 times as many admissions as in urban areas. The last time we checked, NYC was considered to be an urban area.

I wonder how often Orrin mistakes his bustling Brooklyn nabe for an exurb of Peoria, or a sleepy little town in Maine. We all know New Yorkers are more friendly than some of those persnickety New Englanders in their small towns, and NYC statistics show that local dogs are also more friendly than their Country Mouse cousins.

Shall we review the facts? Like when in 2006, the 13 members of the NYC Health Board (doctors, epidemiologists, public health officials) looked at the statistic of dog bites in NYC and noticed a precipitous drop over the past few decades. Full story here. In fact, the vote to approve the Off-leash Hours Policy and to amend the "Leash Law" was unanimous (13-0) after the facts were considered--including the precipitous statistical drop in NYC dog bites concurrent to the period that the 25-year successful off-leash hours policy has been in effect.

Perhaps Orrin can go volunteer in a small little red school house in rural America to teach stats. Only be careful of those territorial dogs in small towns who don't get the socialization and exercise that the City cousins get in 89 parks in all five boroughs in the big city. The statistics outside the city are against you.

Orrin's a bit like how Jon Stewart recently characterized the GOP, he loves the "truth", but hates facts.

Orrin Moves His Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy to Bklyn

2010-12-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

We thought 2010 would be a slow year for Dear Orrin. But in the home stretch, he concocts two new cynical bogus ploys. Last week's deals with autumn leaves.

But wait, this week's"new" ploy isn't really new at all. In fact, it's an extension of Dear Orrin's "logic" from his Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy--except Central Park was so 2009. This year, he's moved it to Brooklyn's verdant Prospect Park.

We'll call this one Orrin's Cynical Bogus Rabies in Prospect Park Ploy (as compared to his first Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy that concerned Central Park).

Same "arguments" from Orrin as his previous Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy. And in fact, we have the same advice for Dear Orrin.

The Centers fir Disease Control has announced that canine rabies has been eradicated in the United States since at least 2007, and most dogs in NYC are actually vaccinated against the rabies virus, since the rules are that to be off-leash in a designated off leash park area one must have one's dog licensed, which means inoculated against rabies--a very strong argument could be made that dogs should stay exactly where they are--in the Long Meadow, Nethermead, and the Peninsula during the off-leash hours.

However, we must again warn Orrin that humans have no natural immunity against the rabies virus and very few receive humans receive inoculations. So if Orrin's so concerned about rabid raccoons, he should stay out of Prospect Park until the rabies threat blows over. We'd hate to see Orrin more rabid than he already is, and we'll miss him terribly.

Orrin's Cynical Bogus Autumn Leaves Ploy

2010-11-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

After Dear Orrin's 15 minutes of infamy following his outing in the NY Post as the Brooklyn Canine Pepper Spray Vigilante, 2010 has been a bit slow for our hero. Mostly the same old, same old complaints that Orrin doesn't like dogs and their owners in his parks. Yawn.

But we couldn't let this year go by without showing Dear Orrin some love. After all, he has been somewhat less diligently updating his propaganda hate blog campaign against dogs, dog owners, and the now 25-year successful off-leash hours policy, but we want him to know that we care.

As loyal readers of this blog will know, Orrin's been frustrated at every turn and at every level with his jihad against the off-leash hours policy. After his crushing defeat in 2006-2007 when the policy was codified unanimously into NYC Health Code, Department of Parks regulations, and won at the State Supreme Court level, our hero decided the only way to make his presence known going forward was to think up Cynical Bogus Ploys in further attempts to discredit a 25-year old successful parks policy.

First there was the Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy: You'll recall, the bizarro racial theory that Black folks are scared of dogs and that dogs in parks somehow keeps Black people from parks. Dear Orrin's been keeping close empirical statistics of how many "White" "Black" and "Mexican" people he sees in the parks. No doubt this precise and unbiased information will be invaluable for future generations to study.

2. Then there was the Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy: When Orrin tried to link a raccoon rabies outbreak in Central Park to the off-leash hours policy citywide. Of course, what Dear Orrin must have overlooked was that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control declared canine rabies eradicated in the United States as of a few years back and that out of all animals (including humans), dogs are some of the only creatures that by law and regularly receive vaccines to actually prevent rabies if bitten. Poor Orrin. Perhaps he was absent from class the day they taught immunology. We still think that Orrin should consider staying out of the parks until the raccoon rabies epidemic he warns about safely passes. Orrin's not vaccinated like most dogs in NYC.

3. Let's not forget Orrin's Maniacal Obsession with the park volunteer group FIDO. Due to his Maniacal Obsession with Fido, Dear Orrin certainly has been following the fact that not only does FIDO care about dogs, but also about his beloved birds in Prospect Park, as FIDO members have been leading the charge into protecting the geese. Strangely, Dear Orrin's been quiet on this subject.

4. Of course, one of Dear Orrin's classics was when he compared the off-leash hours policy to Nazi Germany. Orrin must be watching a lot of Glenn Beck.

It's been well over a year, during which time Orrin's gone from being like a fart in a windstorm, to not even that. It's a little bit sad to see all that energy wasted and dissipated over time. Orrin needs some meaning in his life of quiet desperation and anger against his neighbors.

But wait! Orrin's now comes with a brand new Cynical Bogus Ploy! Nice to see that Dear Orrin's been scouring the news for any tidbit of information to distort for his own anti-dog purposes. Everyone needs a hobby.

We'll call the latest Orrin's Cynical Bogus Autumn Leaves Ploy. Please follow closely, because it's somewhat convoluted in its sheer brilliance:

You see, in the autumn leaves fall off the trees. Many trees are located in parks. Dogs like to walk through leaves in parks. Like other animals, including Orrin's beloved birds or the horses that walk through Central and Prospect Parks, dog will occasionally defecate in leaves in parks. Unlike those other animals (birds and horses) the vast majority of dog owners pick up any defecation, but occasionally, some might be left in leaves. Children play in the leaves. So it's possible that children can come in contact with dog doo (left unspoken by Orrin, and bird doo, and horse doo).Therefore, Orrin wants dogs banned from parks! Because not only off-leash dogs poo, but so do onleash dogs.

Of course to extend Orrin's logic away from his least favorite animal (aside from humans), which would be dogs, to his most favorite animals, which would be birds, the field full of large geese droppings and duck poo I had to walk through in Prospect Park's peninsula this weekend would also mean that birds should be banned from the park system. No one is picking up their defecation, and they are all over the place dropping poo that destroys plants, lawns, and spreads disease. Children walk and roll in this field. Every day. Hmmm, I wonder if Orrin ever thought of where his own logic takes him. D'oh!

A Happy Thanksgiving and hugs to the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership." All three of them, including the racist hater "Datnoides", who is busy chronicling the goings on of White people in "her" neighborhood. She and Orrin are like separate sides of the same old hateful coin. We're thankful to live in a democracy where haters and crackpots, like the "Committee" get to spew their bile.

Orrin's New Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy; More Intentional Misinformation (aka lies) from Orrin

2009-12-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

Longtime readers will recall that our Dear Orrin has had his treasured goal of eradicating the successful 20+ Year NYC Off-leash Hours Policy thwarted at every level:

Legal - A NYS Supreme Court case to eradicate the policy was defeated in 2006
Court of Public Opinion - Survey after survey has shown the vast majority of NYC residents approve of the Off-leash Hours policy.
Public Health - In December 2006 the NYC Health Board unanimously amended the "Leash Law" to specifically permit the Parks Commissioner to promulgate the Off-leash Hours Policy.
Parks Policy - In 2007, after public hearings where the vast majority of public comment was in favor, the NYC Parks Department codified the Off-leash Hours policy.

"Drat," thought Dear Orrin, scientists, epidemiologists, public policy professionals, the vast majority of the public all have looked at the 20+ years of experience with the successful Off-leash Hours Policy, and have not just approved it as is, decided to codify it into both Health Department and Parks Department regulations. "Double Drat", thought our Dear Orrin.

Then Orrin decided that he'd be Going Rogue. He realized that judges, public health professionals, and the general public are a difficult thing to go up against. So he'd have to concoct some sneaky, underhanded, bogus claims to try and poke holes in these unanimous decisions.

That's when Orrin came up with his Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy. But of course that failed miserably as well for our Dear Orrin. The only thing it was successful at was convincing rational non-racist people that Dear Orrin needs his meds adjusted, or that Orrin harbors some bizarre racist theories about people and animals.

"Triple drat!", thought our Dear Orrin. "What to do, what to do?"

Then Orrin's previous assertions that park goers need to protect themselves against the blood that runs in our City parks every day from dogs and their owners by carrying pepper spray. This bizarre assertion won our Dear Orrin front page attention from the NY Post for his 15 minutes of infamy! He was dubbed the "Pepper Spray Vigilante" and a photo of his gorgeous mug outed our dear hero.

"Quadruple drat!", thought our Dear Orrin. "I'm getting my message out there; getting lots of publicity, but everyone thinks I'm a wackjob. Am I the only one in this City of millions that sees things clearly?"

Fortunately Dear Orrin isn't alone in this great big City with his hateful ideas to destroy the Off-leash Hours Policy. Orrin's tripled membership in his so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" (of course Orrin doesn't actually own a dog). Now there are three members, and one actually owns a dog! Another guy calls himself "ChickenUnderwear". It's nice to see that Orrin has some odd new friends who share some of his interests.

But still no traction in the court of public opinion for Orrin. In fact, more and more parks have instituted designated Off-leash Hours areas. "Quintuple drat!" stews our Hero.

Now comes Orrin with a new cynical ploy to scare someone into taking him seriously: Rabies! We'll dub it his Cynical Bogus Rabies Ploy, so as not to confuse it with Orrin's previous unsuccessful Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy.

Of course, Dear Orrin must have missed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control declared over two years ago that canine rabies has been eradicated from the United States. But Orrin hasn't let pesky facts get in his way before, so why start now?

Orrin has an interesting way of interpreting statistics. Department of Health stats show that rabies has been in most of the five boroughs for many years now, primarily in raccoons. There hasn't been a recorded case of canine rabies for over 40 years! And, of course, the successful Off-leash Hours policy has been in effect for over 20 years, now in 89 parks from 9pm-9am every day. That's a major public health success, mostly achieved by responsible dog owners who have vaccinated and continue to vaccinate their dogs against rabies.

Odd that with rabies in in raccoons in most NYC boroughs for at least a decade, and with canine rabies eradicated in the United States for at least the past two years, Orrin's now horribly concerned that the Offleash Hours policy will now lead to rabies transmission.

Dear Orrin should be worried however, that rabid raccoons in certain parks could curtail his birdwatching activities. It would be a tragedy if Orrin were bitten by a rabid raccoon while traipsing through the woods trying to sight birds. And of course, unlike most dogs who live in NYC whose vets insist they are vaccinated against rabies, virtually no humans are immune to the rabies virus.

If Orrin is correct about rabies, we suggest that Orrin stay out of the parks until the rabid raccoon situation is remedied. It's too dangerous for humans to bird watch with those rabid raccoons out there. We wouldn't want Orrin to become more rabid than he already is.

_____________________________

More fuzzy math for Dear Orrin and one of his three members of the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Owners". The claim is that since codification of the Successful 20+ Year Off-leash Hours Policy, City dog bites have gone up. As our previous post has shown, Orrin is again completely wrong in his assertion, and now one of his "Committee" members have picked up on Orrin's misinformation. Poor Dear Orrin, so often, so wrong.

Happy Holidays to all, even Dear Orrin and the wretched refuse from the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership".

We'll see you in the park.

Orrin and the NYPost: A Love Affair

2009-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Coming off Orrin's 15 minutes of infamy when his ferbissenah punim was splashed all over the pages of that bastion of fine journalism, the NY Post, our Dear Orrin dives into each new issue with relish, perhaps hoping the Post will run another article about his unholy jihad against NYC dogs and dog owners.

But wait! Just this morning, Dear Orrin sees an article completely unrelated to the NYC Parks Off-leash Hours policy and thinks that this error will be another great distortion to add to his bag of tricks as he unsuccessfully tries to discredit the successful 20+ year NYC Parks off-leash hours policy.

In today's NY Post article, the headline erroneously states "BITES SOAR AS BUREAUCRATS BUNGLE". In the body of the article, the reporter states that in NYC in the last reportable year, dog bites reported to the City Department of Health, was 3,537. There's no reference to other years or any indication why the Post editorial department decided to headline the article "Bites Soar..."

In fact, just the opposite is true. In the last reported year before the Off-leash Hour Policy became "official" in 2007--that is codified by both the DOH and the Parks Department--there were a total of 3,956 reported bites in NYC (of which only 86, which is 2.2%, took place in a NYC Park).

This means that instead of BITES SOAR, the headline should have read BITES PLUMMET. In fact, there were 419 less bites--a drop of over 10%!!!

Poor Orrin, quoting wrong statistics makes him even more laughable. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for him and his micro-ilk. Almost.

NY Post Outs Orrin: "The Pepper Spray Vigilante"

2009-05-10T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's the 21st century, and instead of Bernhard Goetz, we have Orrin Tilevitz--The Pepper Spray Vigilante!

Dear Orrin was outed today and his shameful mug shot plastered on the front page of that bastion of fine journalism, the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post.

And what a mug shot it is! Looks like the New York Post photographer shot our hero's good side. He looks like John Wayne (actually more like Shmendrick Ishkabibble). I'm sure his family is proud.

Of course, we're happy to finally see the "man" behind the myth, and to see Dear Orrin confirmed as the president of the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership". (Orrin, of course, doesn't actually own a dog).

Orrin won't be able to sneak around behind trees as anonymously as he's tried in the past. In fact, whenever he's harassing anyone in the park, it will be easy to identify him for police reports. Our little camera toting vigilante will get a taste of his own medicine.

Shortly we'll be publishing the "Orrin Tilevitz archives"! Yes folks, through intensive research, we've located video of the NY Parks Department hearing over two years ago where Orrin first spoke of his macho fantasy to use pepper spray on dogs and their owners. You'll be able to watch and hear Orrin in his own voice spew his rage and vigilantism. What a sight it is!

Exhibit A: NY Post article,

Exhibit B: Orrin's blog,

Exhibit C: Parks Hearings video,

Exhibit D: Any future police reports for harassment will add to the growing dossier on Dear Orrin.

Orrin's NY Post outing now forever links our Dear Hero to his misadventures harassing his fellow citizens and encouraging others in his micro-ilk to attack dogs and dog owners in the park with pepper spray. WNBC news also picked up the story. We found this while Googling "Orrin Tilevitz."

Orrin (again) Unwittingly Proves the Value of Off-leash Recreation

2009-04-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

In Orrin's latest rant, he somehow tries to draw a link between two suburban dogs fenced into their backyard that escaped and attacked a neighbor and her dog with the NYC Off-leash Hours policy.

But in citing this example of enclosed suburban lifestyle, yet again our Dear Orrin unwittingly proves the point that NYC Off-leash Hours policy encourages dogs to be less aggressive, less territorial, and better socialized with other people and dogs that they may have never encountered.

Many dog behaviorists have confirmed that a dog left in a suburban yard, without proper socialization and exercise with other dogs and people, is more likely to be aggressive--similar to a "junk yard" dog who is left to guard its territory and not properly socialized toward strangers.

Anyone who comes out to see the thousands of dogs in the 89 parks currently with Designated Off-leash Hours Areas will see that responsible off-leash recreate results in urban dogs that are well socialized and well behaved. If one were to believe Orrin's screeds, one would think there would be blood running in our parks every day. Over 20 years of a successful off-leash policy has shown that clearly to be false. So much so that the Department of Health, after closely studying the 20+ year successful "experiment" altered the Leash Law to accommodate the policy explicitly.

So we must again give thanks to Orrin. Not only has his efforts alone and with his fellow anti-offleash jihadists helped finally to codify the Off-leash Hours policy into case law at the State Supreme Court, and in the Health Department and Parks Department regulations, but he continues to show (inadvertantly) why NYC has some of the best socialized dogs in the world. Thank you Orrin. Keep up the good work.

Orrin's New Low

2009-02-18T09:43:00.001-08:00

We should have seen this coming. But we thought even Orrin would never discredit himself so much, embarrass himself so much, or be so delusional.

We're talking about Orrin's latest post that compares the NYC Parks Department Off-leash Hours policy to Nazi concentration camps.

That's right kids, Nazi concentration camps. Read the diary of a madman here.

Nothing, of course, needs to be said about this, only that our assertion of CREDO's delusions and Orrin's overall mental state have been confirmed for time immemorial.

Orrin's Racism Thesis Takes Another Hit

2009-01-02T12:14:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since the last posting. As this blog is primarily dedicated to refuting the delusions that frequently flow from Off-leash Hours policy rejectionist Orrin and his so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" aka CREDO, which is neither a committee nor has dog owners (check that, out of the three known CREDO members, one does claim to have a dog), there just hasn't been much of worth from Orrin's disjointed and stubbornly wrongheaded missives in 4Q 2008 to discuss. Orrin just kept posting the same boring delusions that don't break any new ground, nor coherently contribute to his general rejection of the 20+ year successful Off-leash Hours policy and his hatred of the thousands of dog owners in NYC who responsibly take advantage of the Designated Off-leash Areas (DOLAs), now in 89 NYC parks.

But it's a new year, and Orrin's whackadoodle racist anti-dog/anti-dog owner theory is being tested yet again. This time by his own blog entry.

Frequent readers may remember that following the fringe off-leash rejectionists' total defeat in 2006-2007, our Dear Orrin struggled to find a peg to hang his anti-Offleash Policy hat upon.

The Off-leash Hours policy rejectionists were shut down every which way but loose (no pun intended)--legally in NYS Supreme Court, from a public health perspective at the NYC Health Department, in the court of public opinion as overwhelming support for the 20+ successful Off-leash Hours policy appeared in tens of thousands of petition signatures and on public opinion polls in the major NYC weeklies, and of course the final insult to their self-inflicted injury, when the NYC DOPR formally codified the formerly "unofficial" policy.

So poor Dear Orrin felt a bit left out. It appeared that only him, a few hopelessly grizzled Archie Bunker types in Middle Village, Queens, and one or two of his radical birder Internet friends felt the way he did against his fellow citizens. (Interesting side note: this author attended a recent dinner at which several birders were happy to discuss some of the radical anti-dog fringe birders such as Dear Orrin and his buddy the so-called Prospect Park "Advocate" and how the rational mainstream birder community rejected their futile calls to go against the Off-leash Hours and politely asked said radical anti-dog birders to leave their group).

Orrin thought to himself--since the challenged Off-leash Hours policy got a full and fair hearing in court, court of public opinion, in front of public health professionals, and has been shown over 20 years to be a very popular and beneficial policy, so much so that the Parks Department decided to codify it in its regulations--there must be some sneaky, cynical, depraved, disingenuous, cowardly, yet effective way to somehow still kill it.

That's when Dear Orrin came up with his Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy. In a nutshell, a made up attempt to "scare" city government officials by playing a false race card, in the belief that certain City agencies (such as the DOPR) are so sensitive to charges of racism and racial discrimination, that he could somehow get their attention, manipulate them, and finally get his way. In Orrin's World, his way would be the total abolition of the Off-leash Hours policy. The baby with the bathwater approach that Dear Orrin and his micro-ilk so strongly advocate, and have failed so badly to achieve.

So our Dear Orrin has been carefully counting the number of "Black," "White," "Mexican" people he sees with and without dogs in various parks and our very white Dear Orrin has arrived at his brilliant hypothesis from his life experience and hours of careful observation through his anti-Off-leash colored glasses: Black people are afraid of dogs, so therefore the Off-leash Hours policy is keeping Black people out of the parks, so therefore the Off-leash Hours policy discriminates against Black people.

So Orrin's been blogging repeatedly about his racial observations and theories. And he's found company in the single dog owner in the 3 person "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" - Kim E., Pit Bull Owner, of late calling herself "Datnioides", and who has jumped on Orrin's Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy bandwagon.

However, on his New Years Day 2009 blog entry, it completely escapes our Dear Orrin that the recent DOPR approval to make Coffey Park (or as Orrin repeatedly/incorrectly types "Coffee" Park) the 89th park in NYC designated to have Off-leash Hours, completely shatters his Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy.

Red Hook is one of the most ethnically, racially, economically diverse communities in NYC. There's a sizable public housing population, a significant Latino community, and a large African American constituency represented.

The process to declare Coffey Park a DOLA took the better part of a year, as first the community received provisional permission to try out a DOLA to see if:
(a) a responsible group of dog owners would use the facility (it did),
(b) contribute to the park (they do),
(c) comply with the rules (they do),
(d) and to see how the rest of the community perceived the DOLA (as a benefit to the park and the community).

So guess what happened? A large responsible group of people takes their dogs to Coffey Park on a daily basis, forming strong friendships and community bonds across class, racial, ethnic lines (which so often happens when people of all stripes gather in all weather, day and night to care for their dogs) with each other, other park goers, and others in the community.

In fact, the president of the Red Hook Tennent's Association, which is a representative group for the very racially diverse public housing in Red Hook, who's also a member of the local CB, joined to unanimously approve the DOLA in Coffey Park after the months long experiment to see how the DOLA benefited the entire community progressed. Judging by the community support, the support of the CB, and the local associations, it's been successful and was overwhelmingly approved by one of the largest non-white and African American communities in the City.

Our Dear Orrin, if he ever set foot in Coffee (sic) Park, might see what he chooses not to see in Prospect or Central Park; that the 20+ year successful and now official Off-leash Hours policy brings diverse groups people together in this City around something most people can agree to--that the 1.4 million dogs in the NYC should be properly socialized, exercised, and that taking one's dog to the park is a beneficial recreational activity for all citizens, whether you own a dog or not.

But we know our Dear Orrin. He'll conveniently ignore this inconvenient truth and continue to keep his Off-leash rejectionist lenses firmly strapped to his eyes.

Also interesting in Orrin's post is that he lets the real truth slip again out why he's really so vehemently opposed to the Off-leash Hours policy. You see, in Orrin's World, apparently the parkland should just be for HIS recreational activity, and not other peoples. We've known about the rejectionists' selfish reasons for trying to kill Off-leash Hours in 2006, but it's nice to see them occasionally admit it to themselves and others in print.

A happy and healthy 2009 to everyone, even Orrin and his ilk. I'm sure we'll be hearing more racial theories and other interesting perspectives in the coming year from the rejectionists. For them, it's like being the Grinch all year long.

More Orrin Deliberate Misrepresentations

2008-10-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

We like to give Dear Orrin the benefit of the doubt. His out of context quotes and bizarre assertions using snippets of secondary and tertiary sources create some truly wacky assertions and conclusions.

So, let's ignore Orrin's hardcore racism, let's ignore his maniacal obsession with responsible dog owner groups, let's ignore his ongoing close association with the flotsam and jetsam of the failed Off-leash Hours Rejectionist micro-ilk.

Let's just say that Orrin's suffers from poor reading comprehension, and only sees the world through his anti-dog and anti-dog owner lenses and his very wishful thinking that off-leash recreation will simply go away after the micro-ilk's failed jihad two years ago actually codified and strengthened the successful 20+ year policy (thanks Orrin! and please give your buddies in Queens again our thanks for spending all that money on their failed lawsuit).

Here's some choice examples from one of his latest CREDO posts at: http://credo-ny2.blogspot.com/2008/09/credo-doubles-its-membership.html

Orrin exhibits his sadness that a squirrel which entered a house in Long Island was euthanized after the rodent bit the family dog. What Dear Orrin doesn't say, and which is clearly mentioned in the article in the same sentence, was that the squirrel bit the family dog AND the family teen aged daughter. Dear Orrin couldn't have left out the bitten teenaged daughter on purpose! It must have been an oversight for Dear Orrin. Or maybe not.....

Now either Dear Orrin wants his readership to be intentionally misinformed about the entire truth of the squirrel incident, thereby trying to throw more mud against his anti-offleash agenda wall, or Dear Orrin simply is a poor reader and missed those few word in the article that he quoted that a girl was bit by a squirrel. We hope that Orrin wouldn't have volunteered to transport and return a squirrel that bit a human into Prospect Park. So he must have simply misread this secondary source (as he's wont to do). Or perhaps Orrin secretly fantasizes about squirrels attacking off-leash advocates in the Long Meadow.

Also in the same post, Dear Orrin misreads an article in a Boston newspaper about a local politician who recognizes that Boston has less than one handful of few dog runs and Designated Offleash Areas, which has led the explosion of dogs and their owners in Beantown to seek off-leash opportunities that are not legal.

Unfortunately, the people of Boston, one of the largest cities in the U.S. have a severe paucity of off-leash recreational venues. The politician quoted in the article specifically mentions this, and which the politician conjectures may be leading to dog owners allowing their dogs off-leash in non-designated areas. The politician wants to encourage responsible dog ownership, so he is proposing a multi-prong solution for all the people of Boston:

Linehan has called for a public hearing to open dialogue between the groups
and to discuss whether the city needs to toughen up penalties for violating
leash and pooper-scooper regulations, step up enforcement, and look at the
possibility of creating more dog-friendly areas so the pets and their owners have somewhere to go.

That Orrin has chosen to discuss this story is interesting, and points the wrongheadedness
in his years old "baby with the bathwater" approach to dogs and
off-leash recreation.

Orrin and his micro-ilk fought tooth and nail (no pun intended) against
Off-leash recreation two years ago, and failed in their
jihad.

What this article shows is that the Boston politician quoted realized there's
a need for Designated Off-leash Areas in Boston. That to foster a culture of
responsible dog ownership, legal off-leash recreation must be part of the
equation, in addition to enforcement. This is lost on Orrin and his
micro-ilk, who simply want the policy banned and hope that dogs and their owners
somehow go away.

Perhaps Dear Orrin could re-read his secondary sources to learn that less off-leash opportunites in an urban setting for dogs and their owners increases exactly what Orrin doesn't like to see, nor responsible dog owners like to see--which is off-leash dogs where they are not permitted.

Perhaps one day Dear Orrin will see the light and realize that his "baby with the bathwater" desires are counterproductive and instead he should work with responsible dog owners and their usergroups to encourage respectful park stewardship, enforcement of the rules, and sharing of the parks with all usergroups--including dog owners. Perhaps under an Obama administration Dear Orrin will come around.

CREDO Doubles Its Membership!

2008-09-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

1 x 2 = 2

With her latest nonsensical screed, Kim E., pit bull owner (of late calling herself Datnioides), joins Dear Orrin in his vile racist assertion that off-leash hours patrons are all a bunch of, to quote Kim E,

ill-mannered rich white people who, like infants, find it difficult to
relinquish their ambulatory teddy bears.

See the comments on this post: http://credo-ny.blogspot.com/2008/09/off-leash-hours-and-dirty-bookstores.html

Congratulations to "The Committee on Responsible Dog Ownership" (CREDO), not only have you doubled your membership base, but you now actually have a real live dog owner! A first for "The Committee." And your newest member, with her latest choice comment above, seems to sign on to your Bogus Cynical Racist Ploy. Well done. The force of your arguments is moving mountains.

Perhaps over the next few months, you might be able to get your numbers up to the old "Army of Eight". Old timers may remember the Army of Eight as the unholy alliance of self-proclaimed "Prospect Park Advocates" and the flotsam and jetsam of the off-leash hours rejectionist micro-movement which included Kim E, and the good people over at the second largest civic association in Middle Village who, with their failed NYS supreme court law suit, tried to destroy the Off-leash Hours policy, but only ended up strengthening it to their everlasting chagrin.

Orrin's Ironic Lack of Irony

2008-09-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

Could Orrin actually be reading TimeOut NY online, or more likely his Goggle Alert set to all things off-leash pointed him to an article about a young film maker.

Being Orrin, and predisposed to seeing the world through his unique and bizarre ideological prism, our hero either seems to miss the interviewee's sarcastic comments or, likely, as is he wont, and those of his micro-ilk such as Kim E. pit bull owner, black and blue RJ, and the disgraced civic in Queens, he twists published comments to intentionally misinform.

At least this time, Orrin misinterprets/distorts a primary source. He's usually more for misinterpreting/distorting secondary or tertiary sources.

CREDO/Orrin’s Latest Paranoid Delusions Exposed

2008-09-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

The following post was contributed by a Off-leash Hours supporter and Credo2 reader:

Credo/Orrin once again exposes himself with his latest post: http://credo-ny.blogspot.com/2008/09/more-tales-of-loose-pit-bulls.html

In his latest diatribe, Dear Orrin conflates an irresponsible dog owner (Marcia) in Prospect Park with a pit bull that broke loose from a chain on Long Island and subsequently was shot after it bit two people. Then he goes further and uses a quote from a newspaper in Dadeville, Alabama (population 3,212) where a loose dog went into a neighbor’s yard and killed a teacup dog.

There is no doubt that Marcia in Prospect is an irresponsible person (not just a dog owner). FIDO Brooklyn has complained about her for years. Parks employees and officials have complained. Unless the police see her violating the rules (walking her dogs off leash in prohibited areas, encouraging her dogs to attack small wildlife in the park, etc.) or threatening people, they are somewhat powerless. No one likes what she does and she is not representative of responsible dog ownership or the off-leash community. She is not a nice person and we hope she is appropriately punished and finally stopped.

The dog attack in Farmingdale, Long Island was unfortunate. Clearly the unknown owners of the dog kept it chained; a cruel practice that some city officials are trying to outlaw. The dog could not have been properly trained or socialized. We regret that people were attacked and are sorry that the dog had to be shot because of its irresponsible ownership.

The Alabama incident has nothing to do with off-leash. No responsible dog owner allows their dog to wander residential neighborhoods off-leash.

However, we have to ask: what does this have to do with off-leash rights in City parks?

But once again dear Orrin finds it necessary to connect the dots. Unlike a children’s drawing, these dots do not connect to form a cogent picture. Illogical connections only produce unintelligible conclusions. He is so obsessed that he searches the Internet for any stories about dog bites, off-leash dogs, etc and then extrapolates these incidents to attack the limited time and place off-leash rights for NYC dog owners in 88 city parks.

We think Orrin would not be happy in any community whether Dadeville, Alabama or Brooklyn, NY. He simply has to find fault and cannot consider the possibility that there is not a conspiracy lurking behind every tree. Paranoia is dangerous. In people suffering from delusions, paranoia grows over time and makes life miserable for them and whoever they encounter.

DOG BEACH: leptospirosis, DOGS, AND CHILDREN

Orrin goes on to mention that parents allowed their children to wade at Dog Beach in Prospect Park:

“At about 11:15 this morning, four human babies were observed playing in the
water at the dog beach. If in fact the resident rats leave bacteria in the water
that's dangerous to dogs, isn't it dangerous to children also? And if so, why
isn't there a sign? Or is the DOPR now concerned only about dogs?”

Well, Orrin, how about reading your own CREDO posts? Scroll down and look at your photograph of the Dog Beach sign. It clearly says that humans are not allowed in the water. Do you really think any other signs would have stopped these parents from foolishly allowing their children in the water?

But we do agree with Credo about one thing: Parks should post a warning sign about the current danger of leptospirosis infection due to rat urine and feces in the area of Dog Beach.

What Credo/Orrin don’t say this time, is that a few days ago, he was complaining about the Parks Department effort to control the rat population in the park. He said that rats should be allowed to multiply as they provide food for large, hunting birds (red tail hawks, etc.).

We want our avian population protected. If using certain poisons threatens these birds through transmission from captured rats to birds, we advocate the use of safer methods to control the rat population. Yet, unlike Orrin, we do not see some nefarious conspiracy by Parks to rid the parks of birds so dogs can have the entire park.

Give it a break Orrin. Parks is committed to helping wildlife, not killing it.

CREDO: Censorship, Propogandist Lies & More Racism

2008-09-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

This post was submitted to this blog by a supporter of Off-leash Hour Policy in NYC Parks:

Once again, CREDO has resorted to censorship, selective editing, and misrepresentation in order to advance his racist rants in a lame effort to discredit the off-leash community.

In his latest post: http://credo-ny.blogspot.com/2008/09/all-news-that-fits.html, Orrin (the lone face behind Credo) attempts to attack off leash by referencing the recent New York Times blog on dog parks and off-leash in New York City.

The Times question and answer blog was authored by Frances R. Sheridan, the writer and photographer of “Unleashed: The Dog Runs of New York City” Over three days, she answered reader’s questions about Dog Parks and off-leash rights.

Here are just a few of Orrin’s latest distortions:

First he picks up the question on the Times site by Pashelle whom he claims is his friend Datnioides. If true, readers should know that Pashelle/Datnioides is really “Kim E” a disgruntled dog owner who has failed to train or socialize her dogs so that they can enjoy off-leash.
Second, he posts her Times comment and then censors the response from a Prospect Park user identified on the Times as “Orrin.” He deleted the poster’s screen name and refers to an obvious typographical error as an “illiterate” response in a lame effort to denigrate the writer. We do not know who this “Orrin” is but suspect that it is a Prospect Park user familiar with CREDO/Orrin rants so this man or woman used “Orrin” as a way of tweaking CREDO. Or –and we have no way of knowing – this person really is someone named Orrin. After all, it is not so unique as to be exclusive to one person.
Third, CREDO/Orrin then posts Ms. Sheridan’s response to Pashelle/Datnioides/KimE. Here is the full response:

Pashelle, I do have a great deal of empathy for those who are nervous around or
afraid of dogs. I am sorry you have had unpleasant experiences in your park. The
rules must be followed regarding the unleashed hours and you should alert the
parks police if you are finding them broken. The few who break the rules should
be fined and not be allowed to ruin an entire program for everyone. The great
majority of dog owners are sensitive to other people and do not want their dogs
to make them uncomfortable. This need not be a black-and-white issue where you
love or hate dogs simply because you want the rights of all park users
respected. “Also, reiterating what Orrin posted, the rules show that there are
specific areas and times for unleashed activity. You are by no means being
forced to endure any interaction with off leash dogs. “I am glad to hear your
dog is properly exercised and happy. It is possible, appropriate and necessary
for some dogs to only be walked while leashed. “I have spent a great deal of
time closely observing dogs, and I can tell you that there is a spark that
shines through when a dog owns its own movements and engages in play on its own
terms. It is a kind of transformative magic. For most dogs unleashed play is
healthy for their bodies through exercise, their minds through strategies and
independent thought, their emotions through their pet friendships, their hearts
through strengthening the bond they have with their person, and their spirits
through what a sense of freedom does for all living beings.”

Credo/Orrin refers to Ms. Sheridan’s well thought-out responses as “platitudes” meaning “trite or prosaic.” Whenever he cannot refute the facts, he digresses to personal attacks. Poor Orrin. “The mind is a terrible thing to lose,” Dan Quayle.
Finally, Credo quotes another New York Times reader who in response to Ms. Sheridan’s statement “the few who break the rules should be fined and not be allowed to ruin an entire program for everyone” with this comment:

“Yes, they should. But how do you identify them and fine them when both the dog
and the owner run away after breaking a pedestrian’s knee or causing a cyclist
to crash, trashing the bike and breaking a collarbone? You can’t, period. For
you to suggest so is unrealistic at best, possibly hypocritical. It’s “love me,
love my dog,”

Once again, Credo failed to post the response to that by another Times reader named Steve: “

bicyclists and automobiles are faster than dog owners and dogs. Yes, there are
violators and some do run away, but the same might be said about bikers and
drivers. The few should not be used to ruin it for the majority who do abide by
the laws. Neither should those few be used to castigate the majority.”

Of course Credo/Orrin cannot acknowledge the truth in Steve’s comment. After all, it is logical and well reasoned.

CREDO RACISM CONTINUES

Credo/Orrin continues his racist rants with this posted statement:

“And, as we keep pointing out, while it is true that the neighborhoods
around Prospect Park are ethnically diverse, the off-leash community is almost
exclusively white.”

After citing five alleged violations of off-leash rules out of hundreds of thousands of off-leash users in three city parks (two of the most visited urban parks in the nation, by the way), once again, CREDO/Orrin resort to racism.

We know Orrin checks the www.FidoBrooklyn.com website since he often refers (and misinterprets) it. Readers, we invite you to check the facts. Last weekend, a NY State Senator yn hosted Diversity Day in Prospect Park with dog owners (later followed by a diversity bike ride event). FIDO has posted several photos of the event.

As any objective reader can easily discern from the photographs, participants were black, white, brown, and yellow. They were old, young. They were handicapped and body able. They were male and female. In short, they were a cross section of New York City in all its glorious diversity.

Off-leashers come from all communities. Socializing their dogs together allows people to get to know one another. Few dog owners (and no responsible dog owners) distinguish by race or ethnicity. It simply is unimportant.

CREDO/Orrin is attempting to use race as a wedge issue to separate people by race for his own purposes. He wants people out of Prospect Park.

Just read his prior post wherein he claims that dogs are responsible for wear and tear on lawns and ballfields utilized by literally millions of Prospect Park users. Somehow –against all facts (just read the comments and his silly responses to the commenter) - he knows that dogs caused the wearing down of the outfields by every baseball diamond. Somehow he knows that dogs caused the damage near a corner where multiple sidewalks converge at odd angles. It must be difficult living as the “all knowing being of all things.”

FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO READ THE FULL NEW YORK TIMES Q&A ON DOG PARKS AND OFF-LEASH

For those who missed the Times, here are four direct links to questions and answers. Francis Sheridan is a fabulous photographer and writer. You should check out her book while you are at it.

THE ORIGINAL TIMES QUESTIONS:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/ask-about-new-yorks-dog-runs/?scp=1&sq=Frances%20R.%20Sheridan&st=cse

ANSWERS ONE:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/answers-about-new-yorks-dog-runs/

ANSWERS TWO:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/answers-about-new-yorks-dog-runs-part-2/

ANSWERS THREE:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/answers-about-new-yorks-dog-runs-part-3/

Orrin: So Often, So Wrong

2008-09-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Careful readers of the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" which is actually not a committee, nor does the founder and single "member"--Orrin--actually have a dog, may have noticed by now that Orrin tends to get a lot of things wrong. And not just partially wrong, but dead wrong.

Part of Orrin's chronic lack of knowledge about what he professes to know all about is due to the fact that he takes wild leaps of assumption and extrapolation from bits and pieces of photos, news items, and websites that he uses as secondary and sometimes even tertiary sources.

It's quite shocking how someone of his education level consistently gets his facts, assumptions, and conclusions flat wrong. And then when you add his hard core racism, you have the makings of a real piece of work.

Today's case in point:

Our Dear Orrin, in a recent screed, believes through his careful observation and genius extrapolation of certain "facts" that "as far as he knows" that the DOPR does not consult Community Boards when making decisions about designated off-leash areas and enclosed dog runs. Oops, Orrin, here's another example of where you're simply totally incorrect.

In fact, Community Boards are frequently consulted. Here's one of may examples. Consulted is the operative word. Because, Dear Orrin, if you knew your civics, and there are clearly huge gaps in your knowledge of civics (perhaps you were absent the day they taught it in law school), you'd know that under the City Charter, Community Boards are consultative bodies on items that involve the DOPR and that the DOPR always makes the final decisions. Your buddies in Queens must be giving you bad information.

Perhaps some of Orrin's wrongheadedness can be attributed to his paranoia. Many examples of Orrin's paranoia abound (see previous blog posts on this site). When things don't make sense to Dear Orrin through his careful evaluation of secondary and tertiary sources, our hero smells--CONSPIRACY!

Orrin has of late turned his maniacal obsession with the good people at FIDO, over to his paranoia about Tupper Thomas. There must be a conspiracy some where there! First our Dear Orrin accuses FIDO of being Tupper's puppet organization (which should be big news to the scores of people who founded FIDO ten years ago and who recently celebrated FIDO's ten year anniversary), and the 400+ paying members, and the hundreds more who participate in FIDO events. Now, our Dear Orrin believes that a personal legal matter that affected him last year was personally and continually thwarted by Ms. Thomas.

You see, when things don't go Orrin's way, he immediately lashes his rage and irrationality out on others. Our Hero's not one to live a life well examined.

Oh, and Orrin's Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy (one of his many paranoid delusions), took another hit as a local State Senator sponsored Diversity Day in conjunction with FIDO. Hundreds of people of all backgrounds attended to celebrate how responsible dog ownership brings all people of Brooklyn together (except for Orrin as one of the few hold outs). Photos of Diversity Day can be found on the FIDO site.

Orrin's Maniacal Obsession with FIDO

2008-08-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Orrin's back from vacation, but our hero did not take a vacation from his unnatural rage and obsession against 400+ of his fellow citizens who are paying members of Fellowship in the Interest of Dogs and their Owners (FIDO) of Prospect Park. (There are hundreds of others who do not pay membership but affiliate themselves with FIDOs aims of responsible dog ownership).

Let's take another brief voyage into the delusional mind of our Hero:

Orrin writes,

We took one of our occasional glances at the FIDO website.

We comment:
"We"? Again with the pronoun trouble. "The Committee" is Orrin sitting with his face 2 inches from his screen trying to count the number of "Black" people in photos posted to FIDO's website.

Orrin writes:

"one of our occasional glances at the FIDO website"

HA! Orrin is so obsessed with the good people of FIDO and their organization that he could recite the entire FIDO website backwards in his sleep.

Orrin writes:

Encouragement to take out dog licenses. But nothing about dogs not allowed
off-leash unless they are licensed, which in fact is the law.

Gee Orrin, if you want to get technical, dogs in NYC are ALL supposed to be licensed, whether they are on leash or off leash. Why do you make the distinction and why should FIDO? FIDO actively encourages all dog owners to license their dogs, and in fact, at their monthly Coffee Bark get togethers in the Long Meadow, has for years had dog license applications available on the tables.

Clearly, our Hero is reaching for anything possible to criticize, when there's nothing to criticize. Reminds us of the bizzaro emails floating around the Internet slandering a certain presidential candidate. Orrin likes to take the Rovian approach.

1. Pictures of FIDO’s tenth anniversary celebration. Except for a state senator
who spoke at the celebration, everyone in each of the pictures is white.

Yes, except for that state senator, and except the scores of other African Americans out of the crowd of hundreds there to celebrate FIDO's anniversary. But how could you know that, Dear Orrin, because you weren't even there. So instead, you choose to make up your racist "facts" whole cloth. But why let that stop you?

That aforementioned state senator was there, in fact, Dear Orrin, to praise FIDO and its multicultural welcoming outreach to all communities in Brooklyn. But that doesn't quite fit into your vile racism does it? Dear Orrin's like a reporter for a newspaper who glances at secondary sources and then tries to write a story--WITHOUT EVEN BEING THERE. Of course, our Dear Orrin would never have the cojones to actually come out from behind his tree to actually hear the good Senator praising the organization that Orrin so maniacally hates.

And of course, our Dear Orrin willfully ignores all the other photos on the FIDO site and on other NYC offleash sites that show African Americans, Asians, and people of all abilities, disabilities, ethnic groups and social classes responsibly enjoying legal Off-leash Hours policy. Don't count those "Black" people Orrin, it completely refutes your Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy.

Keep up the racism Orrin, you simply discredit anything you say. Also keep analyzing every pixel on the FIDO website. You might learn something that isn't processed through your scheme to slander your neighbors.

Orrin's Sisyphean Mission

2008-08-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it’s because our Dear Orrin crawled out from under his rock and joined the off-leash rejectionist micro-movement very late in the game in 2006-2007 that he feels the need to regurgitate all their old discredited, misinformed, and sophistic “arguments” against the formal NYC Parks Off-leash Hours Policy.

The old tired “arguments” that were rejected in NYS Supreme Court (the rejectionists used to constantly complain that the 20+ year successful was illegal only to learn after their expensive law suit that it was their wishful thinking), at the Health Department (unanimous 13-0 vote in favor of off-leash policy), the Parks Department hearings (that resulted in codified off-leash), and in the NYC Court of Public Opinion, which time after time showed the vast majority of the public supports off-leash hours policy in NYC Parks. A good example of this is the 13,000+ letters (98%) received by the NYC Health Department of public support in favor of Off-leash recreation in City Parks and only 202 (2%) letters received against the Off-leash Policy. Or this TimeOut NY survey that showed that 81% of New Yorkers surveyed supported providing dogs and their owners with some off-leash time in New York City Parks: http://www.nycoffleash.com/html/files/TimeOutNYreaderspoll.pdf

Oh, yes, the rejectionists tried very hard to portray Off-leash recreation as, a) illegal, b) poor public health policy, c) poor parks policy, and d) not supported by the general public. As we all know, recent history shut them down on all fronts and they failed miserably. For those interested, a concise and accurate chronicle can be found here: http://www.nycoffleash.com/html/threat.htm

Don’t let the cold hard facts get in the way of your sophistry, Dear Orrin.

The 2 Percenters (Off-leash Rejectionists) are schizophrenic about the popularity of Off-leash Hours Policy. When it suits their sophistry, they claim that the parks are simply overrun with off-leash dogs and their owners. But then, when it suits their ploy to misinform and mischaracterize the policy, they claim that only a minuscule fraction of dog owners in the City use the Off-leash Hours. So, which is it Dear Orrin? You can’t have it both ways.

We wonder how many people use bocce courts in NYC parks, or the tennis courts, or riding trails, or skating rinks, or locked ball fields like the ones at Juniper Valley Park, or play soccer, or touch football in the parks. Clearly, each activity has a very small percent of the population that participates in each.

Of course, most rational non-haters don’t begrudge their fellow citizens time and space in the Parks to enjoy their specific activity. No rational person is trying to ban birders or cricket players, or runners, Little Leagues playing on locked ball fields, or bocce players, though some of these activities are enjoyed be a very small percentage of the park going public. But Orrin just can’t control his rage and must lash out against his fears and spin his sophistry.

However, as Commissioner Adrian Benepe pointed out recently, dog owners are the largest activity-specific constituency group in the NYC Parks system, other than casual park users. Anyone who bothers to come out to Prospect, Marine, Central, Cadman, Juniper Valley, Riverside, Ft. Greene, or any of the 88 parks where designed off-leash recreation is allowed before 9am will see thousands of people each day utilizing the policy through the park system.

But Orrin and some of his micro-ilk loathe Commissioner Benepe and the Bloomberg Administration—thinking they are somehow controlled by some all powerful Off-leash cabal that is behind the scenes pulling the strings of Mike Bloomberg. Vast conspiracy!

Just this past Saturday in Prospect Park, despite the threat of poor weather, and the beginning of the August vacation season, there were conservatively three hundred dogs and their owners in the Long Meadow alone before 9am enjoying codified Off-leash recreation. More evidence of a vast conspiracy!

How many other activities, such as birding, boating, skating, football, baseball, Frisbee, sunbathing, kite flying, and the list goes on, can even come close to half the number of people that are drawn into the park on a day in and day out basis, in all weather, and in all seasons to exercise and socialize their dogs and to enjoy the company of their fellow citizens? Perhaps running and cycling can come close.

Or perhaps it’s because Orrin's previous Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy was exposed and made our Dear Orrin seem like a bit of a crackpot, that our hero must go back to the well of old failed arguments to come up with something—something!

Alas, Dear Orrin, these arguments failed miserably a year and a half ago when you were late to the party and they will fail again. But keep trying to throw them against the wall. Fight the battle all over again Sisyphus!

Commisar Orrin's Big Dog Test

2008-08-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Another day, another non sequitur from our Dear Orrin.

It appears that Orrin doesn't believe that "big dogs" should be allowed in NYC.

We wonder what else Orrin doesn't want his fellow citizens to enjoy? Perhaps if you live in a "big house", as judged by Orrin, that shouldn't be allowed. Or if you drive a "big car" perhaps that's also a capital offense in Orrin's World. Or if you're over 6' 2" you'd be taking up too much space on the sidewalk, or somehow you'd be intimidating to our Dear Orrin. But somehow we think that anything dog related gets Orrin going.

Here's our hero's latest delusional ejaculation:

Someone else ought to tell her—just as someone should have
told those who demanded off-leash privileges to exercise their big dogs—that if
she can’t deal with her animals without bothering other people, she shouldn’t
keep them. Nothing entitles her to keep big dog in the city. It’s not fair to
the dogs and it’s not fair to anyone else. You want a big dog, get a
farm.

Note the way, "someone should tell her" coming from Dear Orrin. Someone, anyone, please tell "her" that she shouldn't have a big dog! Only medium and small size dogs at Off-leash Hours. D'oh, actually, no dogs at Off-leash Hours in Orrin's World, but at the very least, only small to medium size dogs. The big dogs will just have to go to a farm. Buses will leave hourly to transport dogs over Orrin's standards to farms just outside of NYC Limits. Orrin will personally be driving these buses. Tips are appreciated.

In Orrin's World, of course there would be no off-leash hours in NYC parks, but apparently all dog owners, if any were indeed allowed, would need to have the size of their dogs personally approved by Canine Commisar Orrin to see that they met his personal size standards. Perhaps ever Monday and Thursday afternoon between 1-2:30pm, Orrin would have inspection hours to see if your dog was small enough to be allowed to live within City Limits, rather than being put on a farm.

You see, despite loathing dogs and their owners, Orrin's a dog expert! Yes, just ask him! And in Orrin's World, it's just not fair to these big dogs to be kept in NYC--and "it's not fair to anyone else"--of course meaning Commissar Orrin--because he just doesn't like dogs and their owners. The bigger the dog, the more he doesn't like it. It's a pound for pound proportional ratio, the bigger the dog, the more Orrin's irrational hate. It's just not fair, people!

Orrin must have really hated that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was in Prospect Park this morning celebrating FIDO's anniversary, and presenting a borough proclamation naming today FIDO in Prospect Park day. Oh, the chagrin, oh the outrage that these many hundred of "privileged" citizens are using the park in ways that Commissar Orrin does not approve! And it's officially sanctioned! The outrage!

Datnioides=Kim E., Pit Bull Owner.

Orrin's Grand Signage Conspiracy

2008-07-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

Another day, another delusion for our Dear Orrin.

Today's beaut: Orrin believes that the new tasteful signage that have been displayed in Prospect Park alerting dog owners where dogs are not ever permitted off-leash are way too small.

Not only that, our Dear Orrin believes that there's a Grand Sign Conspiracy to hang inadequate signage!

Yes, you see in Orrin's World, even through there are signs at entrances to the wood trails, and even through Dear Orrin managed to see the signs just fine, only he can see them. No one else has seen these signs. So it must be a Sign Conspiracy, probably emanating at the highest level. Perhaps even Bloomberg is behind this Grand Conspiracy.

And, as usual, Orrin is the only one who sees clearly.

Up the dosage, Orrin baby!

Orrin Makes Fun of Dog's Tragic Death; More Examples of Facts Processed Through Orrin's Ideology

2008-07-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our Dear Orrin writes today about the tragic death of a dog killed by a NYC street sweeper.

What a leashed dog on a City street tragically killed by an automated street sweeper has to do with Off-leash Hours Policy in NYC Parks is beyond any rational person's thought process. But as we all know by now our ideologically driven Dear Orrin is completely nonsensical and illogical when it comes to dogs and Off-leash Hours policy.

But instead of Orrin's usual shameful and vile racism against African Americans, in his latest post, Orrin makes fun of this dog's tragic death by calling it a "Clean Sweep." Another vile and repugnant low for our hero. Orrin, don't you know that G-d hates a coward?

"Dr." Orrin's Expert Opinion on Off-leash and "Humanization"/ More Orrin Racism

2008-07-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

In Orrin's World, every new piece of information he takes in through his five senses gets processed through a an odd ideological processor in his brain that this new piece of information somehow "proves" his hatred and personal jihad against Off-leash Hours Policy in NYC Parks.

The latest case in point: Orrin extrapolates from a NYT article he read that somehow Off-leash Recreation is part of the recent increase of spending on pets in America and on a "humanization" of animals that the article states has been a trend in the United States.

Orrin questions whether dogs are "happier" when they are off-leash.

Orrin says: "Shades of the humanization that leads to the conclusion that dogs are “happier” off-leash."

Gee, Orrin. Do you think birds would be "happier" in cages, or on leashes all the time than they would be free to walk or fly around. Are leashes or restraints on animals their natural state?

Is it "humanizing" to ask if a dog, or any other animal would be be happier on a leash all the time? Would you be happier on a leash all the time? (No need to answer that, we don't care about your practices behind closed doors).

Anyone with two working eyes (even one would do) and half a functioning logical brain observing dogs off-leash running, playing, frolicking, exploring, tumbling, chasing, playing, recognizes that this activity is good for them and makes them more content (yes, happy), less aggressive, less territorial, and better to cope with the stresses of living in an urban environment. Virtually all animal behaviorist, doctors of veterinary medicine agree that dogs need exercise--especially younger dogs. Anyone who has ever seen a dog deprived of adequate exercise, especially in a critical puppy to young adult phase will often notice that these dogs are often poorly adapted to life with people, and with others of their own species.

Even the stuffy old American Kennel Club supports the Off-leash Hours Policy in New York City Parks, because its clear to all who know and work with dogs that this policy works and is beneficial for all people who live in New York City. For those curious to see the AKC's official endorsement of Off-leash Hours policy, you can read it here. But of course, Orrin knows dogs much better than those lightweights at the AKC.

Our Dear Orrin goes even further and now has to:

"And it points out another pernicious aspect of this policy: these vast sums aren’t being spent by poor people. So as much as off-leash policy exists to benefit white folks because they are more desirable park patrons than black folks, it exists to benefit the haves because they are more desirable than the have-nots."

Pernicious indeed! The only thing pernicious, Dear Orrin, is your conscious and unconscious racism against African Americans in particular. Dear Orrin, African American people own dogs, they love their dogs, they care for their dogs, take their dogs to the vet, spend money on their dogs, and many, as responsible dog owners, take the time and effort to exercise their dogs and socialize their dogs so they do well in an urban environment with other dogs and humans. This frequently involves taking them for play time to burn off energy and to socialize at enclose dog parks, and, since there are only 44 enclose dog parks for over 1 million dogs in NYC, using the 88 designated Off-leash Areas in NYC parks for Off-leash Hour recreation.

Your racism is pernicious and despicable. Keep trying to fit that round peg into the square hole Orrin baby!

Dear Orrin missed his life's calling. He should have been a Party apparatchik in the old Soviet Union. One of those people who would propagandize that there's been a record harvest, when half the population is starving to death. You see, Orrin is gripped with his hatred of Off-leash policy and its benefits for all New Yorkers, that you could tell him that Good Humor has a new flavor of ice cream, and he would somehow link it to "pernicious" Off-leash Hour policy.

Oh, Dear Orrin, any hope you've had to make a case for racism and the Off-leash Hours policy in NYC Parks has been completely discredited by your insanity and pathetic racism. But surely you're going to keep trying to jam that round peg in the square hole.

Orrin Taking It Back to Where It All Began

2008-07-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Juniper Valley Park. Home to a lovely neighborhood of solid citizens, many of whom are dog owners and who for years have enjoyed off-leash recreation in the park.

As astute observers of recent off-leash history are aware, it was in this neighborhood that the seeds for codification of Off-leash Hours Policy were (inadvertently) planted by a small local civic group who rejected an enclosed dog park in Juniper Valley Park, and rejected the designated Off-leash Hours area of Juniper Valley Park that residents had used before 9am for six years. Instead, this civic chose to instigate a costly and failed lawsuit against the City. More information can be found here.

Dear Orrin has chosen videos from Juniper Valley Park Off-leash Hours for his delusion du jour.

And, as usual, our hero's irrational worldview takes hold to interpret such lovely videos of citizens enjoying off-leash recreation legally, respectfully, and properly in the park as something sinister and improper.

Let's analyse today's delusion one by one:

Orrin Says: The vigorous exercise in which most of the dogs are engaged (not).

Gee Orrin, maybe in your world, dogs running and playing with each other is not exercise or socialization. However, must rational people would say otherwise.

Orrin Says: Dog owners standing around chatting and drinking coffee. All fine and dandy, but why do they deserve their own area, paid for by the taxpayers?

What would you have dog owners do, Orrin, jumping jacks or playing soccer (or perhaps bird watching) when they are responsibly watching their charges and socializing with their neighbors (heaven forbid). You don't like to socialize with your neighbors much, but not everyone needs to be a curmudgeon.

And perhaps all of those people in the videos are tax cheats, but probably not. Therefore, they are all taxpayers. In the park 7/365 enjoying a designated area that other times of the day is multi-use.

Perhaps Orrin might ask why certain people in Juniper Valley Park have locked ballfields that are single use areas all the time, or why there's a dedicated bocce court, basketball courts, and ice skating rinks. Perhaps only the ice skaters pay all their taxes.

Orrin Says: The large dogs in the background of one of the videos running around under no discernible control of their owners (not that the small dogs seem to be under the owners’ control).

How do you define discernible control, Dear Orrin? The dogs are running in the designated area, and are under the watchful eye of their owner. Your irrational attempts at throwing mud on the wall just further discredit you.

Orrin Says: Every person in these videos is white.

Speaking of discrediting yourself on a daily basis. Here we go again with Orrin's racial theories (which most non-racists would consider racism).

Since Orrin's so interested in racial statistics, perhaps this map of New York City would be instructive to him: http://histmaps.research.cuny.edu/pub/maps/map3.aspx?g=1&animation=true

According to this map, published by CUNY, the racial composition of Middle Village and Juniper Valley Park is from 1-10% "Black". The neighboring nabes are also the same racial composition. But in Orrin's racial worldview he expects to find a cornucopia of African Americans in Juniper Valley Park? It's clearly to "support" his whackadoodle racial theories and Bogus Cynical Racial Ploy that he's building in his desperate attempt to attack the codified Off-leash Hours Health Department and Parks Department regulations. Nice try Orrin baby!

Perhaps Orrin should ask his friends in Middle Village why there are so few African American residents in the immediate and surrounding areas? That would be an interesting conversation.

Orrin's Delusion Du Jour

2008-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

In his July 7th screed, Dear Orrin finds two news article about a 14-year old girl who was mugged in Prospect Park on June 24th. The two news articles he cites have nothing at all to do with dogs or off-leash recreation whatsoever.

Yet our deluded hero, in his vain attempts to throw as much mud up against the wall to see if anything will stick, attempts to criticize the crime victim by questioning why she had an off-leash dog in near where the crime was reported.

There's only a few slight problems with Orrin's latest delusion:

(1) Both news reports make no mention whatsoever that the girl had a dog. Only that the mugging took place near "Doggie Beach." Orrin just made this factoid up whole cloth. But why let that stop him?

(2) After making a false assumption that the girl had a dog with her because her mugging took place near Dog Beach, Orrin goes on to make another false assumption, claiming that this young girl MUST have had her imaginary dog off-leash because the mugging took place before 9pm.

Yet another ASSumption that's completely wrong. People use Dog Beach, Dear Orrin, between 9am-9pm with their dogs onleash to enjoy the beach.

Aren't you supposed to be an attorney? You're either a very poor reader, or as we believe, you're one of these ideologues who filters their entire reality through a distorted worldview--in this case, your maniacal hatred and obsession with all things dogs and off-leash in Prospect Park.
Dear Orrin, re-read your sources, or up your Ginkgo biloba dosage. You're reading comprehension is slipping.

Orrin's Cynical Bogus Racist Ploy

2008-07-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

The one person "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" (aka Orrin) is an off-leash rejectionist, still licking his wounds from the historic Off-leash Hours legal, health, and parks policy decisions in 2006-2007. Thwarted and frustrated at every turn, our 'hero' is left with plotting a disingenuous racist ploy in an attempt to cower the city agencies and courts that handed him and his micro-ilk (the good folks who labored to destroy the Off-leash Hours policy in NYC parks) a solid defeat.

Orrin thinks to himself: "Now that the NYS Supreme Court has said that Off-leash Hours policy is and always has been legal, and now that the 13-member NYC Board of Health unanimously supported codification of Off-leash Hours policy, and now that the Parks Department held hearings, received an avalanche of public support for the 20+ year successful policy, and amended its regulations to specifically codify the policy...rejectionists can no longer rationally claim that the policy is illegal, or bad for public health, or not Parks policy" (even though our hero still tries to regurgitate all the old failed 'arguments' against Off-leash Hours policy during the attempts to kill the policy and which, to his chagrin, only made it stronger).

Much like the Grinch, in his cave, seething against all these hundreds of park patrons who come out to Prospect Park before 9am, and the thousands in the 87 other NYC parks 7/365, and having had his "arguments" heard and then rejected by every possible authority, Orrin stews.

So what's a Off-leash Hours Policy rejectionist to do?

But wait!!!! Eureka! He'll plot a bogus cynical racial angle!

Yes!!!, thinks our deluded hero, "I know that the various City departments are very squeamish towards anything that can be construed as racial discrimination. THAT's how I'll get them, my pretties! And their little dogs too! Yes, it's bogus, yes, it's cynical, but it just might work!"

So we have Orrin posting such hardcore racist choice nuggets as these from his vile blog:

(1) "the DOPR has reserved immense chunks of parkland, 365 days a year, until 9 A.M. just for a bunch of white people to socialize."

(2) "black people seem to be uncomfortable around dogs—we’ve posted a video documenting this"

Yes, folks, this is Brooklyn in 2008, in case after stumbling upon Orrin's racist screeds you thought it's Mississippi in 1956.

Our hero is so desperate, he's walking around Prospect Park using his expert eye trying to identify and quantify who is "Black", who is "Mexican" and who is "Caucasian."

Our hero discredits himself with each new blog post.

However, Orrin's racism is inexcusible. All should be aware of his cynical bogus racist ploy and his attempts to gain attention now that every other argument the rejectionists have used against off-leash hour policy have been shut down by the vast majority of public opinion, and every legal, public health and Parks authority. Orrin tries to fight the same battle over and over, but even our irrational racist schemer realizes that he needs SOMETHING new to get attention. And he's settled on the racial angle.

One of his vile blog posts has our hero casting doubt that the numerous people of color he sees on an Off-Leash Hours Website could actually be dog owners! In Orrin's World, African American people just don't like dogs, and he's got a video to prove it! (You can't make this stuff up.)

Yes, Orrin, African American folks have dogs, and many of your fellow citizens of color use and enjoy the Off-leash Hours. If you'd bother to come out and meet your neighbors whom you despise so much, enjoying the park responsibly every day of the week, you'd see that folks who enjoy Off-leash Hours policy in Prospect and in the 87 other parks from around the City, transcend race, gender, national origin, economic circumstance, age, and ability/disability. Perhaps you'd even learn that several members of your local off-leash group boards of directors just happen to be African American. Imagine that!

But don't let any inconvenient truths get in the way or your bogus cynical racist diatribes, Orrin.

Shame on you, if you have any shame.

Orrin's Racism on Display (Again)

2008-07-01T13:08:00.000-07:00

Those who follow the lunatic fringe offleash rejectionists found Orrin's recent posting a new low in his blatant racism, gross assumptions, and general lack of information and understanding about the policy and the people he so despises.

Here we deconstruct Dear Orrin's postings. Orrin's delusions in black, our commentary in blue.

On June 6 we reported that Commissioner Benepe was supposed to speak the following day at some off-leash gathering at Prospect Park. It turns out that the gathering was a celebration of the first anniversary of the off-leash rules (if we were Palestinian, we’d call it the nakba). We don’t know if the Commissioner showed up, but one of his deputies, a gentleman named Kevin E. Jeffrey did.

So much of Orrin's blaterings are grossly inaccurate, it's almost trivial to point out that our hero continuously spells Assistant Commissioner Jeffrey's name as Jeffries.

The pictures are here. (Go ahead: read the rest of the website and the links from it. We’ve addressed some of their nonsensical contentions and we’ll be addressing what they say in future posts.) First, observe the pictures of the gathering and compare them with the other pictures on the website. It is striking that (1) Assistant Commissioner Jeffrey and the head of PEP, Mike Dockett, are black;

Goodness Gracious! Imagine that, Orrin, high ranking Parks Department officials that happen to be African American and in strong support of the Off-leash Policy. In Orrin's world, "Black" people don't like or use the Off-leash policy. Therefore, in Orrin's comprehensive conspiracy theory, these officials must be forced into it by forces pulling strings behind the scenes.

(2) of the several black people in the picture of the gathering, only one appears to even possibly be a dog owner,

This would be too funny if it wasn't so racist and pathetic. Orrin's rage and delusions so blind him that he just can't believe that "Black" people could possibly be at an off-leash event, or even own dogs. News flash Orrin, check out the dog leash draped around on one of the photo's dog owner, and check out the Chuck It ball thrower in the hand of the other, not to mention that of the young boy that accompanies him. Oh, and your delusion that the others just happen to be there are some sort of prop is vile in the extreme. Shame on you, if you have any shame.

and (3) in all of the other many pictures on the website, the only black face is that of Mike Dockett.

"Black face". Wow, Orrin, did you mean you thought you saw Al Jolson? Disgraceful.

Were Benepe, by sending Jeffrey, and the photographer, by seemingly finding what were perhaps the only black faces on the Long Meadow, trying to counter what we’ve been saying?

OMG, you flatter yourself Dear Orrin. You're challenged to come to any off-leash hours event, sponsored by any of the multiple off-leash park patron organizations and see the diversity of dog owners--different races, genders, orientations, economic groups, ability/disability.

Incidentally, we seem to have picked up some readers who while not pro-leash at least have an open mind. Does our pointing out things like this make us racist? It depends on what you mean. Is someone who observes the relative number of blacks and whites stopped by police on the highway; notes that the percentage of blacks stopped is much higher than that of whites; and suggests that the disparity is deliberate, a racist? That’s just what we’re doing.

ROTFLMAO. Sure, that's just what you're doing Orrin. Your pathetic cynical attempts to play a bogus race card just discredits your cause even more. A few days ago the NYT published an article stating that people who hold a strong world view on an issue willfully ignore overwhelming evidence that contradicts their ideology. I suggest you read that article, Dear Orrin, then perhaps you'll realize your vile racial profiling of "Blacks" and "Mexicans", not to mention "Caucasians" give everyone the impression that you're either a screwball or a hard core racist. You also may stop overlooking the many benefits of off-leash recreation that's overwhelmingly favored by your fellow New Yorkers, and by experts in law, health, and parks.

We are documenting that the overwhelming majority of dog owners who let their dogs run unleashed are white; that a majority of park users, at least in Prospect Park, are non-white people; and suggesting that this disparity may be part of a plan to bring more white people and fewer black people into the parks.

You seem to have pronoun trouble, Dear Orrin. You keep saying "We" when everyone knows that the "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership" is a committee of one--and that would be You. Again with the willful misrepresentation. Shameful. And again with the grand conspiracy theories. Yes, those dog owners are so powerful. They control the world's finances. So in addition to your racism, you're also deceitful and paranoid.

If this makes us racist, so be it.

So you looked in the mirror.

Also, look at the third picture down, showing a bunch of dog owners flanked by two smiling, uniformed PEP officers and a sign, “NYCDOG”. By now, there should be no question that statements on NYCDOG's website that "the solution [to owners' letting their dogs off-leash illegally] is to stiffen enforcement of the rules", that "Off-leash dog owner groups . . .try to self-police Off-leash Hours" and that the "various groups that comprise the Off-leash movement are strongly in favor of stiffer fines . . . and strong enforcement of the laws" is pious blather:

That's it!!!! Pious blather! Brilliant!!! How come everyone else can't see this obvious Grand Conspiracy, just "The Committee"? Is everyone else insane, and Orrin's the only one who sees the truth? It must be!

to take just one small sample, we've observed a majority of dog owners who use the Peninsula Meadow dog run letting their dogs run loose before they get to the Peninsula, after they leave it, or both. And we pointed out that one owner who was letting his dog wander--and harass passers-by--along Wellhouse Road looked like the president of FIDO. And no PEP agents are ever there to stop them. If there’s any better proof than this photograph that PEP is in league with the people they’re supposed to be regulating and has no intention of enforcing what’s left of the leash law in the City’s parks, we don’t what it could be.

More evidence of a Grand Conspiracy!!! It couldn't possibly be that user groups such as NYCdog, FIDO, and many others have worked very hard with the Parks Department to make the Off-leash policy work in the 88 parks where it now is permitted. It couldn't be that Off-leash advocacy groups constantly press the cash strapped Parks Department to step up enforcement so that any irresponsible dog owners will not ruin the policy for the vast majority of responsible dog owners that obey the rules. Asst. Commissioner Kevin Jeffrey's official speech at the 1st year anniversary of Off-leash codification couldn't possibly be real mutual appreciation of the job volunteer off-leash advocates do to make sure the policy continues to work No, it must be a Grand Conspiracy!! And at the highest level!!!! String pulling!!! Perhaps the Parks Department and the off-leash groups are also part of the oil futures speculation conspiracy resulting in $4.00 gas. Anything is possible!

Welcome

2008-07-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

Like a Japanese soldier still living in a cave a year after the war's end, less than a handful of fringe park users are still fighting the Parks and Health Departments' codification of the Off-leash Hours policy.

This blog is established as a point-by-point refutation of their tired cynical ploys to mislead the public through their willful misrepresentations, racist claims, and outright lies.

Feel free to participate!